Control (Remedy Games) PC, PS4, XB1

Mr Crispy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p3jktqhp4g

This one has my attention.

After a secretive agency in New York is invaded by an otherworldly threat, you become the new Director struggling to regain Control. This supernatural third-person action-adventure game will challenge you to master a combination of supernatural abilities, modifiable loadouts and reactive environments, while fighting through a deep and unpredictable world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdXsWmJ0HYI

SeantheMan

4 of the Easy Allies went and checked it out.
They had a good discussion about it.

https://youtu.be/E0aali33Tdg?t=3239

recyclops

Looks like it plays exactly like quantum break. Hopefully san lake has dropped his obsession with making it as close to tv/movie as he can get and concentrates on making a very good story driven game in the Max Payne/Alan Wake mould.

wes

I taught this was a Quantum Break sequel when I watch the reveal, and then realized I was watching a Sony show.

It looks interesting and power look like they could be fun to use.

Potential-Monke

Having never played Quantum Break, all I could think for the trailer was a messed up Second Sight! Which is good, as that was amazing! I'm intrigued.

Mr Crispy

New spooky world trailer, complete with terribly named narrator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaeJUtc6-5w

Sephiroth_dude

Anyone getting this next week?

JimBurnley

Yep. Got on the GS 10 quid trade deal. Not sure what to expect but looks interesting and different. I feel it's either gonna be a sleeper hit or bloody awful...

Sephiroth_dude

Its out tomorrow, I thought it was Friday.

EoinMcLovin

Reviews
Eurogamer – Recommended
USgamer – 4/5
Gamespot – 8
PC Gamer – 88/100
Slant – 4.5/5
Press Start – 9.5
COGconnected – 89/100
EGM – 5/5
Destructoid – 9
Worth Playing – 8
VideoGamer – 8
Stevivor – 10
Xbox Achievements – 85%
IGN – 8.8
Fextralife – 9
Screen Rant – 4.5/5
GamesRadar+ – 4.5/5
TrustedReviews – 4/5
We Got This Covered – 2/5
Heavy – 8.75
Easy Allies [Video] – 9

JimBurnley

EoinMcLovin wrote: »

Reviews
Eurogamer – Recommended
USgamer – 4/5
Gamespot – 8
PC Gamer – 88/100
Slant – 4.5/5
Press Start – 9.5
COGconnected – 89/100
EGM – 5/5
Destructoid – 9
Worth Playing – 8
VideoGamer – 8
Stevivor – 10
Xbox Achievements – 85%
IGN – 8.8
Fextralife – 9
Screen Rant – 4.5/5
GamesRadar+ – 4.5/5
TrustedReviews – 4/5
We Got This Covered – 2/5
Heavy – 8.75
Easy Allies [Video] – 9

Nice. Now I can get excited... New game day tomorrow, wohooo!!

Rob2D

Love me some Remedy stuff.

recyclops

Read the 2 out of 5 review. Reminded me of my feelings on quantum break. 😔

recyclops wrote: »

Read the 2 out of 5 review. Reminded me of my feelings on quantum break. 😔

This.

The Phantom Pain

Will definitely buy. Looks like Prey meets InFamous.

JimBurnley

I've no experience of Remedy's previous games, but really enjoying this so far. Only got chance for about an hour of gameplay so far, but already the story is shaping up to be very interesting, good atmospheric stuff with no shortage of horror and sci-fi thrown in.

The gameplay is a lot of fun, plenty of action, and that goes up a notch after unlocking the skill where you can chuck pretty much anything at oncoming enemies... looking forward to getting back into it tonight.

johnny_ultimate

So this is... really good? Gotta be honest - never been a big fan of Remedy. Thought they never quite landed what they were aiming for. I was hearing the right sort of buzz about this, though, beyond the mere review scores. So decided to pick it up.

It's a small thing, but it's the in-game font that convinced me they'd made the landing this time :pac: The in-game titles crash in, ala Mindhunter, in big, bold, dramatic lettering. It's a familiar touch, but something that gives this an instant sense of swagger. And then you start digging in even more and you realise the aesthetics and atmosphere here are top-notch. The smash cuts; the super cool projections that intrude in on the game world; the mood lighting; the shifting, dynamic environment; the stellar integration of real-world video footage; collectibles that are - gasp! - worth reading; the overall feeling that everything about this world and your character is a bit off. Lots of games try this sort of thing, but this one - at least in its first few hours - is the rare one with the style and confidence to deliver on its promises.

There is a neat, fun third-person shooter powering it all - one with pleasingly destructible environments, superb physics and just a nice oomph to proceedings, although a bit loose in other respects (finding it more satisfying with a controller than M&K, oddly). For all the stellar audio-visual storytelling, the game does feel weirdly flat during some of the more grounded, straightforward conversations. Most important though, rough edges aside: this is a game that sees a studio step up their game - to finally find that sweet spot they've spent years working towards. It's weird, quirky and messy - but it's trying to be all those things, so success! Don't skip this one if it's caught your attention - it's a good 'un

Retr0gamer

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

So this is... really good? Gotta be honest - never been a big fan of Remedy. Thought they never quite landed what they were aiming for. I was hearing the right sort of buzz about this, though, beyond the mere review scores. So decided to pick it up.

It's a small thing, but it's the in-game font that convinced me they'd made the landing this time :pac: The in-game titles crash in, ala Mindhunter, in big, bold, dramatic lettering. It's a familiar touch, but something that gives this an instant sense of swagger. And then you start digging in even more and you realise the aesthetics and atmosphere here are top-notch. The smash cuts; the super cool projections that intrude in on the game world; the mood lighting; the shifting, dynamic environment; the stellar integration of real-world video footage; collectibles that are - gasp! - worth reading; the overall feeling that everything about this world and your character is a bit off. Lots of games try this sort of thing, but this one - at least in its first few hours - is the rare one with the style and confidence to deliver on its promises.

There is a neat, fun third-person shooter powering it all - one with pleasingly destructible environments, superb physics and just a nice oomph to proceedings, although a bit loose in other respects (finding it more satisfying with a controller than M&K, oddly). For all the stellar audio-visual storytelling, the game does feel weirdly flat during some of the more grounded, straightforward conversations. Most important though, rough edges aside: this is a game that sees a studio step up their game - to finally find that sweet spot they've spent years working towards. It's weird, quirky and messy - but it's trying to be all those things, so success! Don't skip this one if it's caught your attention - it's a good 'un

Feck it. That's me sold. But this month is insane with new releases and I've car insurance.

Never clicked with any remedy games either so nice to hear they've finally nailed something.

johnny_ultimate

A good chunk of the way through this now.

The first few hours are extraordinary, and it settles into a more predictable, comfortable groove after that. Thankfully it's a good groove. It's definitely one of my favourite AAA (AA?) third-person shooters in a long time, because the physics are such a joy. A rare use of technology used for core gameplay purposes, not just a little bit of sparkle. The powers are very fun, especially one of gaming's very best double jumps (even if it's a bit more complex than just a double jump).

Aesthetically it's still a joy. One of the most impressive games ever made in terms of technology and art design working together so effectively.

What's interesting about the setting of The Old House is that it's on the surface a very generic office / industrial complex setting, which surely suited the smaller budget Remedy had here. But the fact that it's so dynamic, full of Escher-style oddities and captivating distortions makes it feel properly special. Some great environmental storytelling - stumbled into a bizarre post-it filled office earlier and chuckled when a collectible log (which are all very well written) explained what had happened.

It's definitely an imperfect experience though. There's a while when the game's extended opening is over and you're getting stuck into the gameplay proper where you only have basic abilities - you definitely don't have the crazy arsenal and superpowers you eventually unlock. The difficulty curve can be a bit wonky - a few side bosses would be far more enjoyable if they didn't awkwardly spawn minions to distract you. The subquests are a mixed bag (some really fun ones though involving haunted objects) and there's one or two too many upgrade systems piled on. The extra challenges don't add much. As I mentioned before the exposition conversations feel really flat for the most part, which is supremely odd given how visually arresting the whole experience is otherwise.

Generally though I'd still happily recommend it. There's a solid, engaging third person action game at the core, but it's been so well polished with technical extravagance, go-for-broke art and a superb setting that it merrily levitates above the usual efforts.

I just finished mission 5 and agree with alot of the above. Ive been ignoring the side mission stuff. Just kind of feels like backtracking and filler but can easily be played in linear fashion like I'm doing.

Be warned though, I'd only play this on the PC or the Xbox One X

Hearing bad reports of the other versions from a performance perspective

JimBurnley

I'm on Mission 7 at the mo, so about 2/3rds way through. Enjoying it very much, some nice touches and different mechanics from most games, from unlimited (but needing to recharge) ammo to health with no medipacks but can be restored from killing more bad guys. The abilities are all fairly cool too, varied enough without giving you too many to be bogged down in.

Story is engaging, enough to keep the interest and you wanting to find out more with each mission.

With no difficulty settings, can be fairly unforgiving at times, especially with the boss fights where a couple of hits and you're a goner. But this can add to the 'one or go' addictiveness of the best of games.

Playing on PS4, there is some performance issues when it gets very frantic unfortunately, and whilst its rare enough to not completely spoil the experience, there is enough of an issue to at some times frustrate.

Potential-Monke

Someone might be able to answer this for me, does it play/remind you of Second Sight back in the PS2 days? Loved that game, and the psychic powers here remind me of it.

johnny_ultimate

Been a long time since I've played Second Sight but in some ways yes it does carry on that an idea of a psychic-powered shooter and bring it up to the current generation*. The whole thing is a pretty great, highly destructible physics playground where you can pick up most things and hurl them at your pleasure. There's also lovely touches where you just tear chunks out of the floor or wall if you have nothing else to throw :P

Goes without saying that it's far ahead of Second Sight in terms of art and tone, but a lot of time has passed so comparisons are fairly futile in that respect!

*given some of the performance issues on consoles and the ray-tracing making the PC version cutting edge it might be more accurate to say it brings it up to the next generation!

Potential-Monke

Yurt, somewhere close is good enough for me, not enough Psychic power games!

sweetie

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Yurt, somewhere close is good enough for me, not enough Psychic power games!

Psi Ops: mindgate conspiracy came out same time as Second Sight and it was decent too

johnny_ultimate

Heads up to those playing that there are some really good side quests in the back half of the game, with some of the best flights of fancy in the game. If you’ve been skipping them make time for at least the mirror one and the altered object cleansings (the really good ones are after you’ve cleared the first batch of four - although the traffic light is awesome too).

JimBurnley

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Heads up to those playing that there are some really good side quests in the back half of the game, with some of the best flights of fancy in the game. If you’ve been skipping them make time for at least the mirror one and the altered object cleansings (the really good ones are after you’ve cleared the first batch of four - although the traffic light is awesome too).

Enjoyed the traffic lights one, made me smile once figured it out.

Was starting on the 2nd batch of altered items, whilst looking for the first one I got distracted as I stumbled back onto the main mission. Will definitely go back to them.

[Deleted User]

Finished Control last night. What a pleasant surprise. I was unaware of the games existence up to a couple of weeks before release until I got it free with a GPU.
Thoroughly enjoyed it start to finish and the story has given me quite a lot to ponder over. Really looking forward to seeing additional content further down the line.

JimBurnley

Control done. Really good gaming experience - gameplay, controls, atmosphere, setting and story all top-notch. Personal highlight was start of Mission 9, the music track at this point mixed with the high octane action was just sublime!

OptimusTractor

If John le Carre wrote science fiction it'd go a little something this.

Doctor Nick

Was thinking of picking this up but read performance is terrible on PS4. Anyone here play on console or are you all on PC? If anyone played is it as bad as has been reported?